Bingo and bingo-type games, such as keno, are well known.
In traditional bingo, the sponsor or bingo-providing authority distributes bingo cards on which 24 randomly selected numbers from between 1 and 75 are printed. The sponsor withdraws balls from a hopper during the play of a particular bingo game. There are 75 balls in a hopper or other container, and the game sponsor draws out one at a time, calling out the number printed thereon.
The bingo cards are traditionally printed in a 5.times.5 array with the centermost one of the 25 squares being labelled "F" (representing a "free" spot). Depending on the variation of bingo being played, a player wins when he or she has matched five numbers in a row or column, or on a diagonal extending through the "F" spot.
Other bingo variations provide for a winner when all 24 numbers on the player's bingo card have been matched with the numbers called out by the sponsor. Generally, the sponsor provides its largest jackpot or payoff to the winning player, during the bingo game called "blackout" or "coverall". The player achieves a blackout by matching the 24 numbers on the player's bingo card within a predetermined limited number of calls called out by the sponsor's caller.
There are known instant bingo games and game cards therefor, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,815 to Pollard in which a game card or bingo card has a first area on which a series of numbers corresponding to the numbers which would be called out by the caller in a live bingo game are represented. There are four other player's cards corresponding to a bingo player's traditional playing card provided on another part of the Pollard game card. The user of the Pollard game card must scratch off one or more colored layers of material which hides the preprinted numbers on the player's game card. The Pollard bingo card has multiple layers, including a colored, translucent layer and an opaque latex coating, such as conventionally used in so-called "scratch off" lottery tickets as distributed by many states. The Pollard instant bingo game card is expensive to print and difficult to use owing to its complicated format. The Pollard game card is not designed for playing "blackout" nor for paying out consolation prizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,566 to Desbiens discloses another two-level scratch game in which a player scratches off one or more layers of latex material covering hidden numbers printed on the game card. The Desbiens scratch off game card is complicated to manufacture and difficult to play.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,598 to Kamille discloses a lottery game type game card, including a version of conventional keno in which the player must scratch off 10 out of the 80 latex covered boxes in order to reveal the player's hidden numbers, in an attempt to match revealed numbers with the 10 winning numbers. The player must scratch off only 10 of the 80 numbers or the Kamille game card is voided. Kamille discloses a spaced apart, separate, eleventh game number which can be revealed by scratching off to provide a bonus play.
Accordingly, there is a need for a straightforward instant game card for bingo-type games which is both easier and less expensive to manufacture than known instant game cards, is easier for a player to use, cannot be accidentally voided by the player by inadvertently destroying parts of the game card or by scratching off too many latex covered areas, and which is provided in a universal format. By "universal" I mean throughout the specification that my bingo-type game is suited for being constructed and played on the three common types of game media: pull tab game cards; game cards having scratch off surfaces made of opaque latex coatings and the like; and video display terminals providing graphic representations of my bingo-like game. My new game and method of playing the game have been realized by the game format and method of playing my game described in detail below.